It's a rat snake (Pantherophis obsoletus; was in Elaphe), looks like one of the intergrades between yellow rat snakes (Pantherophis obsoletus quadrivittatus) and black rat snakes (Pantherophis obsoletus obsoletus).

Patrick Alexander

It's an intergrade between a yellow rat snake and a black rat snake. That particular intergrade is often referred to as a greenish rat snake. The rat snakes in Southeast North Carolina are all intergrades rather than the pure yellow rat snakes you find in more Southern states or the pure black rat snakes you find in western and central North Carolina.

Yep, a "Greenish Ratsnake". That's the most common form of Ratsnake in eastern North and South Carolina. I sometimes find black ones, but most show the Yellow Rat influence to some degree. They can be pretty stinky, though, can't they? Most reptile books don't mention this intergrade, and they are highly variable as the amount of green tint and pattern. Some have the striped Yellow Rat pattern, while others are blotched, like a Black Ratsnake, and some have both. Some are more yellowish and other more green.

Sharon McKenzie